Macbeth

"I feel that I have spent half my career with one or another Pelican Shakespeare in my back pocket. Convenience, however, is the least important aspect of the new Pelican Shakespeare series. Here is an elegant and clear text for either the study or the rehearsal room, notes where you need them and the distinguished scholarship of the general editors, Stephen Orgel…
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Overview

"I feel that I have spent half my career with one or another Pelican Shakespeare in my back pocket. Convenience, however, is the least important aspect of the new Pelican Shakespeare series. Here is an elegant and clear text for either the study or the rehearsal room, notes where you need them and the distinguished scholarship of the general editors, Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmuller who understand that these are plays for performance as well as great texts for contemplation." (Patrick Stewart)

The distinguished Pelican Shakespeare series, which has sold more than four million copies, is now completely revised and repackaged.

Each volume features: * Authoritative, reliable texts * High quality introductions and notes * New, more readable trade trim size * An essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare and essays on Shakespeare's life and the selection of texts

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Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"This updated edition of Macbeth reveals thorough research, it is conscientiously annotated, and it appears a superb tool for researchers and students involved in Shakespeare scholarship." -The Year's Work In English Studies(2010)

Children's Literature - Rita Monteiro

In eleventh century Scotland, Macbeth, a cousin of the reigning King Duncan, is a superb military strategist and general, feared by enemies of the kingdom, a loyal retainer, and leader respected by his peers for his valor and noble qualities. At the peak of sophistication and poetic artistry, Shakespeare's drama Macbeth is a powerful tragedy, built on a compelling plot of actions and consequences. Shakespeare walks his audience into the mind and heart of Macbeth, a charismatic character set to reach the acme of success. Feeding on his boundless ambition, lured by convenient prophecies from the powers of darkness, egged on by a complicit and relentless wife whom he loves deeply, Macbeth chooses a path of ruthless murders and corrosive guilt, to the tragic doom he constructs for himself. Powell creates a graphic novel from the original play, together with Daniel, who has worked as a colorist and an illustrator for comic book publishers. Powell retains the dramatic structure of the original play five actswith a two-page illustration in lurid green color, by Daniel. A brief original quotation highlights the main theme of the action. Much of the compelling moral power and beauty of the original incisive dramatic poetry, in fluid iambic pentameter, rich in emotional associations and symbols, occurs as fragmented snippets of text. The power of a skilled animator and artistic colorist will appeal to the imagination and sense of visual beauty, as a clever hook to a stage performance, or reading of Shakespeare's play. In support of this consideration, the book has excellent notes on William Shakespeare, the history of the play, Shakespearean language with examples, discussion questions and writing prompts. There are also notes on the retelling author and illustrators. One earnestly hopes that young readers will go from this text to the cathartic original. A confusing error appears in the text at the top on Page 53. Malcolm discusses his concerns with "Macduff," not "Duncan," who lies cold in his grave. Obtain the other Stone Arch "Shakespeare Graphics" novels: Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. These books will make beautiful gifts, especially for young people interested in writing poetry, dramatic performance and stagecraft, printing, illustrating, animation, film scripts and the colorist's art. They are useful additions to a library for those who enroll in the Fine Arts as major subjects. Reviewer: Rita Monteiro

School Library Journal

Gr 10 Up—Shakespeare's tragedy is brought to life in this studio-recorded full-cast performance starring James Marsters and Joanne Whalley. Marsters's Macbeth is solid, and Whalley turns in a remarkable performance of Lady Macbeth's calculated strength and eventual unraveling. The pacing and delivery of Shakespeare's lines are effective and accurate, and the use of sound to depict setting and action provide the essential cues listeners need. The sound effects and the theatrics of the Weird Sisters are wonderful. Listeners should be familiar with the story prior to listening due to the large number of characters and the lack of stage direction in audio format. A good choice to offer students as a reading companion.—Rebecca Flannery, Lyman Memorial High School, Lebanon, CT

Location: An open place.hurlyburly tumultGrimalkin i.e., gray cat, name of the witch's familiar—a demon or evil spirit supposed to answer a witch's call and to allow him or her to perform black magic.Paddock toad; also a familiarAnon At once, right away.

1.2 Location: A camp near Forres.0.1 Alarum trumpet call to arms

1.1 • Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches.

FIRST WITCHWhen shall we three meet again?In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

SECOND WITCHWhen the hurlyburly's done,When the battle's lost and won.

THIRD WITCHThat will be ere the set of sun.first witchWhere the place?second witch Upon the heath.third witchThere to meet with Macbeth.

FIRST WITCH I come, Grimalkin!

SECOND WITCH Paddock calls.

THIRD WITCH Anon.

ALLFair is foul, and foul is fair.Hover through the fog and filthy air. Exeunt.1.2 • Alarum within. Enter King [Duncan], Malcolm, Donalbain, Lennox, with attendants, meeting a bleeding Captain.

DUNCANWhat bloody man is that? He can report,As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt

newest state latest news. sergeant i.e., staff officer. (There may be no inconsistency with his rank of "captain" in the stage direction and speech prefixes in the Folio.)broil battle spent tired out choke their art render their skill in swimming useless.The merciless . . . supplied The merciless Macdonwald—worthy of the hated name of rebel, for in the cause of rebellion an ever-increasing number of villainous persons and unnatural qualities swarm about him like vermin—is joined by light-armed Irish footsoldiers and ax-armed horsemen from the western islands of Scotland (the Hebrides and perhaps Ireland)And Fortune . . . whore i.e., Fortune, proverbially a false strumpet, smiles at first on Macdonwald's damned rebellion but deserts him in his hour of need.well . . . name well he deserves a name that is synonymous with "brave"minion darling. (Macbeth is Valor's darling, not Fortune's.)the slave i.e., MacdonwaldWhich . . . to him i.e., Macbeth paused for no ceremonious greeting or farewell to Macdonwald.nave navel. chops jaws cousin kinsmanAs . . . swells Just as terrible storms at sea arise out of the east, from the place where the sun first shows itself in the seeming comfort of the dawn, even thus did a new military threat come on the heels of the seeming good news of Macdonwald's execution.skipping (1) lightly armed, quick at maneuvering (2) skittish surveying vantage seeing an opportunity

The newest state.

MALCOLM This is the sergeant Who like a good and hardy soldier fought'Gainst my captivity.—Hail, brave friend!Say to the King the knowledge of the broil As thou didst leave it.

CAPTAIN Doubtful it stood,As two spent swimmers that do cling together And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald— Worthy to be a rebel, for to that The multiplying villainies of nature Do swarm upon him—from the Western Isles Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied; And Fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling, Showed like a rebel's whore. But all's too weak; For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name—Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel,Which smoked with bloody execution,Like valor's minion carved out his passage Till he faced the slave, Which ne'er shook hands nor bade farewell to him Till he unseamed him from the nave to th' chops, And fixed his head upon our battlements.

DUNCANOh, valiant cousin, worthy gentleman!

CAPTAINAs whence the sun 'gins his reflection Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break, So from that spring whence comfort seemed to come Discomfort swells. Mark, King of Scotland, mark. No sooner justice had, with valor armed,Compelled these skipping kerns to trust their heels But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage, With furbished arms and new supplies of men,Began a fresh assault.

CAPTAINYes, as sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion. If I say sooth, I must report they were As cannons overcharged with double cracks, So they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe.Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds Or memorize another Golgotha, I cannot tell.But I am faint. My gashes cry for help.

DUNCANSo well thy words become thee as thy wounds;They smack of honor both.—Go get him surgeons.[Exit Captain, attended.]Enter Ross and Angus.Who comes here?

MALCOLM The worthy Thane of Ross.

LENNEX What a haste looks through his eyes!So should he look that seems to speak things strange.

ROSS God save the King!

DUNCAN Whence cam'st thou, worthy thane?

ROSS From Fife, great King,Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky And fan our people cold. Norway himself, with terrible numbers, Assisted by that most disloyal traitor,The Thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict, Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapped in proof, Confronted him with self-comparisons, Point against point, rebellious arm 'gainst arm,Curbing his lavish spirit; and to conclude,The victory fell on us.

Norways' Norwegians'. composition agreement, treaty of peaceSaint Colme's Inch Inchcolm, the Isle of St. Columba in the Firth of Forth dollars Spanish or Dutch coinsOur (The royal "we.") bosom close and intimate. present immediate

FIRST WITCHA sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap,And munched, and munched, and munched. "Give me," quoth I."Aroint thee, witch!" the rump-fed runnion cries. Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o'th' Tiger; But in a sieve I'll thither sail,And like a rat without a tail I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do.

SECOND WITCHI'll give thee a wind.

FIRST WITCHThou'rt kind.

I . . . card I can summon all other winds, wherever they blow and from whatever quarter in the shipman's compass card.

I'll . . . hay (With a suggestion of sexually draining the seaman's semen.)penthouse lid i.e., eyelid (which projects out over the eye like a penthouse or slope-roofed structure). forbid accursed. sev'nnights weeks peak grow peaked or thinWeird Sisters women connected with fate or destiny; also women having a mysterious or unearthly, uncanny appearancePosters of swift travelers over

THIRD WITCHAnd I another.

FIRST WITCHI myself have all the other, And the very ports they blow, All the quarters that they know I'th' shipman's card. I'll drain him dry as hay. Sleep shall neither night nor dayHang upon his penthouse lid. He shall live a man forbid. Weary sev'nnights nine times nine Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine.Though his bark cannot be lost,Yet it shall be tempest-tossed.Look what I have.

SECOND WITCH Show me, show me.

FIRST WITCHHere I have a pilot's thumb,Wrecked as homeward he did come. Drum within.

THIRD WITCHA drum, a drum!Macbeth doth come.all [dancing in a circle]The Weird Sisters, hand in hand, Posters of the sea and land, Thus do go about, about,Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,And thrice again, to make up nine.Peace! The charm's wound up.Enter Macbeth and Banquo.macbethSo foul and fair a day I have not seen.is't called is it said to be choppy chapped fantastical creatures of fantasy or imagination show appear.grace honor rapt withal entranced.beg . . . hate beg your favors nor fear your hate.

BANQUOHow far is't called to Forres?—What are these, So withered and so wild in their attire,That look not like th'inhabitants o'th'earthAnd yet are on't?—Live you? Or are you aughtThat man may question? You seem to understand meBy each at once her choppy finger laying Upon her skinny lips. You should be women,And yet your beards forbid me to interpretThat you are so.

MACBETH Speak, if you can. What are you?

FIRST WITCHAll hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!

SECOND WITCHAll hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!

THIRD WITCHAll hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!

BANQUOGood sir, why do you start and seem to fearThings that do sound so fair?—I'th' name of truth,Are ye fantastical or that indeed Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner You greet with present grace and great prediction Of noble having and of royal hope,That he seems rapt withal. To me you speak not. If you can look into the seeds of timeAnd say which grain will grow and which will not,Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear Your favors nor your hate.

MACBETHStay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more! By Sinel's death I know I am Thane of Glamis, But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor livesA prosperous gentleman; and to be kingStands not within the prospect of belief,No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence You owe this strange intelligence, or why Upon this blasted heath you stop our way With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you.Witches vanish.

BANQUOThe earth hath bubbles, as the water has,And these are of them. Whither are they vanished?

MACBETHInto the air; and what seemed corporal melted, 81As breath into the wind. Would they had stayed!

BANQUOWere such things here as we do speak about?Or have we eaten on the insane root 84That takes the reason prisoner?

MACBETHYour children shall be kings.banquo You shall be king.

MACBETHAnd Thane of Cawdor too. Went it not so?

and when . . . his and when he reads of your extraordinary valor in fighting the rebels, he concludes that your wondrous deeds outdo any praise he could offer.stout haughty, determined, valiantNothing not at allAs . . . with post As fast as could be told, i.e., counted, came messenger after messenger. (Unless the text should be amended to "As thick as hail.")earnest token payment addition titleWho He who combined confederate line the rebel reinforce Macdonwald

ROSSThe King hath happily received, Macbeth,The news of thy success; and when he reads Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight, His wonders and his praises do contend Which should be thine or his. Silenced with that, In viewing o'er the rest o'th' selfsame dayHe finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks, Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make, Strange images of death. As thick as tale Came post with post, and every one did bearThy praises in his kingdom's great defense,And poured them down before him.

ANGUS We are sentTo give thee from our royal master thanks,Only to herald thee into his sight,Not pay thee.

ROSSAnd, for an earnest of a greater honor, He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor;In which addition, hail, most worthy thane, For it is thine.BANQUO What, can the devil speak true?

MACBETHThe Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress meIn borrowed robes?ANGUS Who was the thane lives yet, But under heavy judgment bears that lifeWhich he deserves to lose. Whether he was combined With those of Norway, or did line the rebel With hidden help and vantage, or that with both in . . . wrack to bring about his country's ruin capital deserving deathThe greatest is behind either (1) Two of the three prophecies (and thus the greatest number of them) have already been fulfilled, or (2) The greatest one, the kingship, is still to come. home all the wayIn deepest consequence in the profoundly important sequel.Cousins i.e., Fellow lords swelling act stately drama soliciting tempting unfix my hair make my hair stand on end use custom. fears things feared whose . . . fantastical in which the conception of murder is merely imaginary at this point single . . . man weak human condition function normal power of action. surmise speculation, imaginings And . . . not and everything seems unreal.